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How to download demos to PS3 using a USB flash drive

Nick Grimes Updated April 17, 2017

One of the biggest advances of the seventh generation of video game consoles (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Wii) is their incorporation of online services with which users can download and try demo versions of new games before they buy them. You can download demo games even if your console isn't connected to the Internet.

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Go to the PlayStation Network site and sign in with your PlayStation Network login and password. Click "PS3 Demos" and select a game demo from the list of available titles. Click "Download" to save the game to your computer. These demos can be over 100 MB, so they can take a long time to download.

Insert a USB flash drive into your computer and open the icon on your desktop.

Copy the downloaded game demo to the root directory of the USB drive. Eject and remove the drive.

Connect the USB drive to the USB port of your PlayStation 3, located on the left side of the console's front face. Turn on the console.

Select your game demo. Choose "Copy" to install the game on your PlayStation 3's internal storage.

Press "O" twice to return to the "Game" menu. Scroll down the list of available games until you reach your newly installed game. Launch the game with the "X" button.

Tip

If your USB drive is large enough to accommodate the game demo but you receive the message that there's not enough space on the drive, there may be archived files that need to be trashed. Right-click on your computer's "Recycle Bin" or "Trash" icon. Select "Empty" to delete these files.

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Things You'll Need

Computer with Internet access

PlayStation Network account

USB flash drive

References

Resources

About the Author

Nick Grimes was first published in 1998. Since then his work has appeared in the New Zealand Listener, Evening Post, City Voice, Turbine, Flicks.co.nz, and Gamesradar. He has a master's degree in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington, New Zealand.